


Begin Again.

by jeffgangfan



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Big Hero Six ref, M/M, Nico is all confident and draws nicely, Travel around the world, all the cool stuff I can think of, balala fist bump, coffeeshop, mocha latte, uuuuuuhhh, vanilla mocha frappucino, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-02-26 16:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2658920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeffgangfan/pseuds/jeffgangfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico was enjoying his mocha latte and chilling in his favorite coffee shop in Rome. Life was exciting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, this is how I imagine Nico seeing Percy again.

“Here’s your mocha latte. Have a nice day!”

“Thanks.”

Nico waved back at the waitress as she walked away, smiling. She was so kind, wishing everyone a nice day when she brought them their orders. Nico smiled as he took out his sketch book and journal.

Life had been exciting.

He started traveling around the world when he was free from his past relationship with Will, accompanied by Hazel. The daughter of Pluto decided that she would want to do all the things she wished to do before getting married to Frank. The big guy had to complete his years of Praetor and Hazel wanted to make use of that time carefully. They had been to various places and during their time together, Hazel taught him to sketch and draw probably. Of course, he had tried to sketch out the gods and monsters in Mythomagic when  
Bianca hadn’t left him but Hazel’s skills were divine. 

The most funny thing was that he wrote poems and his collection got published under the name Nicolas De Angilo. He also cooperated with a Youtuber and successfully made a song with swag dance moves and other sick effects. It got on Itunes and Nico guessed that was pretty dangerous but hey, he was wearing a mask in the video so he guessed it was still safe? These were just a small part of the huge checklists that Hazel made for them, “Things we must do before we die.”. They were completing the checklists rapidly and Hazel always scolded him for naming the list pessimistically like that (“Oh come on, what do you expect a son of Hades to do, Haze!?”). 

Nico spin his pen as he took a sip from his coffee. Returning from Vietnam, a quite interesting country, he was supposed to edit and complete his scribbled notes before Hazel. It was like a default challenge between the two now and Hazel had already finished her charcoal art.

His phone buzzed and Nico sighed as he pull it out from the jeans pocket. He usually didn’t receive phone calls, therefore fail to see “how awesome the invention is”, according to Leo. The guy had been pulling out all stops since he got back, so Percy told him to stop “burning the midnight oil”. Percy laughed a lot after that and Leo just glared at him, hands on fire but still smirking at the son of Poseidon.

“Will?!”

“Yeah, Nico. It’s me.”

“Why are you calling me?” Nico realized his question was somewhat rude.

“Just want to check up on you since I can’t contact you for the last ten months.”

Wow, time sure flew when you were having fun.

“Yeah, I have been traveling with Hazel and we went to some foreign countries so…” Nico could clearly make out Will sighing with relief at the other side. 

“How was it? Fun?” Will asked.

“Yeah, I drew a lot.” Nico smiled, his hand sketching on the nearest piece of paper.

“Nico…” Will asked, reluctantly “Are you happy?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m glad to hear so.” 

Nico smiled and sipped in some coffee, some tears threatened to brim out. Will was his best friend and although they hadn’t seen each other so often, Will would always understand and be a place for comfort whenever Nico needed him. This phone call was the first time they talked with each other since they broke up. Nico understood that he could be problematic and although being with Will helped him in his development so much, he needed to fix himself alone. He also didn’t want to tie Will down from the girl whom the son of Apollo was really interested in so…it just ended.

“How are you guys?” Nico asked.

“We’re cool, but I just want to tell you that-” Will relented “I sensed something. It’s like a new beginning for you, Nico.”

“A new beginning? So it’s like Death?” Nico asked because he usually referred to Death as the new beginning of every soul.

“I don’t know for sure, so please be careful.”

“Okay.”

“Come over to Camp sometimes?”

“Sure I will.”

“I’d love to see a friendly face.”

“See you later.”

Fifteen minutes later when Nico had already finished his notes _and_ his drawings, he looked up at the door of the coffee shop because of the rings from that large bell can attract anyone attention and _What the hell is he doing here_.

Nico had no idea why he should make a fuss over the fact that the person who had just entered was, surprisingly, Percy Jackson.

No, seriously, why was he feeling nervous like this?

He shouldn’t feel unconfident, considering that he had been through a lot since the Giant War. He had solved many problems, faced many weird and awkward situations (we didn’t count the dangerous ones, every demigods had to face those) so…why fussing over the son of Poseidon?

The green-eyed idiot was whispering something to the earlier girl and she giggled before whispering back to him. Nico automatically rolled his eyes and tried to hide behind his sketch book. It was not like he was shy, he just found it awkward to meet Percy. Here. Now.

Because the dumbass had been avoiding him at camp after the You’re-cute-but-you’re-not-my-type thing. At first, Nico thought Percy was uncomfortable with the fact Nico fell for him but then he knew the opposite through Jason. Jason insisted that Percy was actually flattered but then the son of Poseidon believed it was his fault and he did not have a single clue of what to do. Nico literally rolled his eyes after that and made Jason promise to tell the guy that Nico had never blamed him.

Percy was not responsible for how people fell in love with him, after all.

Then Will happened. Like, four months after he sassed the son of Apollo about his shirt, Will and him started to hang out as a couple. The days were happy and even though they struggled together, Will didn’t give up helping him. He never did. Nico just understood (on his own) that Will thought he felt love with Nico but it was just something more than friends. Best friends. Jason, Reyna and Will, his best friends who supported him in different ways. So, he decided to talk to Will and traveled around the world right after that.

Okay, he was going sidetrack. The point was, during his coupley time with Will, he could still see Percy in the pictures. Percy glancing at them from afar, Percy looking at their clasped hands, Percy in the lake, Percy sighing as he looked at them with somewhat regret and frustration. As if Will and Nico were bothering him!

So Nico decided that if the son of Poseidon didn’t want to start talking with him again, he would not do the same thing!

Awkward, wasn’t it? And by ‘it’, he meant seeing Percy in his favorite coffee shop.

What if he ignored Percy and the green-eyed found out and tried to talk to him? That would be awkward.

What if Percy ignored him as Nico greeted the son of Sea? That would be awkward.

And he would definitely feel uncomfortable in both situations.

Uncomfortable, like, thinking a lot then cut himself off at mid-thoughts. 

The son of Hades reached behind and scratched the back of his head, then decided to just relax because…things would get awkward if _**he**_ ****got awkward.

“Are you Nico di Angelo?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Nico rolled his eyes and smiled at the son of Poseidon. The hero immediately offered his hand, in his midst of doing some fist bump - handshake thingy that Hazel and Nico could never understand so the Italian just awkwardly do the Big Hero 6 Balala move. (That was the only thing that Hazel knew okay).

“You watched that, too!?” Percy’s eyes lit up in excitement.

“Why are you surprised?” Nico raised an eyebrow.

“I figure you would do some hardcore stuff while travelling around…”

“Well I did write a book.”

“I know!”

“You do?!”

Percy’s green eyes darted away and Nico suddenly realized how childish they were, everyone in the coffee shop was staring at them with curiosity. So far, so good.

“You looked different.” Percy commented, putting his hand on Nico’s shoulder. 

“I may have a good suntan.” Nico answered, blushing so he turned away slightly “You should sit down.”

“Wait-“

Percy reached out for the two paper cups and smiled warmly as he pressed them against his face.

“Would you like Vanilla Mocha Frappucino??”

“Yeah. I would like that very much.” Nico smiled at the green-eyed person across the table.

Maybe this is the new beginning that Will told him about. Having another person in his life, no more avoiding and hiding.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To Nico's question:" What is Percy doing in his favorite coffee shop?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the beta of dear Lei!

It had been a wonderful day so far.

He had planned to see Nico every time the son of Hades returned to Camp Jupiter or New Rome but Percy seemed to always miss his chance. Hazel helped by telling him where Nico is usually headed but he never succeeded. So Percy’s solution to his (such) distress was to wait for the son of Death at his coffee shop, hoping for that 1/14 of his luck to happen.

He still couldn’t act cool when Nico actually showed up earlier. Mali came rushing for him, squealing happily about how ‘the love of his life’ had arrived (how did she even know what Nico looked like?). Percy almost bit his tongue in embarrassment as the waitress pointed at someone hiding behind a black notebook, sitting in a table with notebooks and pencil scattered on it. The skull ring betrayed its owner, a little spy that revealed Nico di Angelo to Percy’s joy. Despite his lack of confidence, Percy found himself slowly took a detour in order not to approach the dark-eyed directly.

To be honest, Percy was surprised by how the son of Hades had changed. The obsidian-eyed was no longer carved with uncertainty and sorrow. The boy was angelic, especially after he had decided to not be so tense and set his notebook down with a shrug (Percy thought he was about to chase him away but it turned out the son of Hades didn’t even notice how Percy was no longer standing with Mali). He didn’t look carefree or indifferent but there was a look of easy thoughtfulness when he looked down at his coffee, as if waiting for what eventually would come to pass. The green-eyed resisted his urge to wrap his arms around Nico and settled for a clever greeting.

“Are you Nico di Angelo?”

That was stupid. However, it would be even more stupid of him if that person was not Nico.

Nico greeted him with casualness and it felt good to talk to him again when their subjects were not about the death of their friends, or monsters and missions to be accomplished. Nico told him about his adventures with Hazel and although Percy had been keeping track with them all, he was still fascinated when the son of Hades himself narrated the stories.

Nico had led him out of the coffee shop and Percy didn’t realize that until they had sat down in front of Reyna’s favorite fountain. The sunset was beautiful, casting the last flows of sunlight down on the training campers and the fires were beginning to be lit as the Camp got ready for another outdoor celebration. Comforting breezes came from all directions and Nico’s fringe was blown up higher, his angelic face brighter.

“So that’s about me. What have you been doing?”

Percy’s mouth opened then closed like a fish on land as he thought about how he was very wound up about Nico leaving Camp Half-Blood again and even skipped the last year of high school, doing nothing but training newbies. Shaking his head in resignation, Percy replied, “Nothing interesting.”

Nico punched his arm slightly. “Oh come on, there’s nothing not interesting about you, Percy Jackson,” which surprised the green-eyed a little.

The onyx-eyed immediately repented for his words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” Percy could see the earnestness in his eyes. However, he didn’t understand why Nico suddenly apologized.

“It’s nothing.”

“No, I kinda assumed that things have been going great for you,” Nico said. “Anything wrong?”

“Everything’s fine, actually.”

“Percy, you know I’ll do anything to help you if something goes wrong,” Nico said then frowned at his own words. With a shrug, his face looked relaxed again.

“I know. That’s why I can’t help myself-” Percy found himself frowning, too. How would he explain to Nico that he wanted to try again with the son of Hades, therefore, it pissed him off to see Nico gone again. It annoyed him that Nico would do anything for him but Percy was useless in returning the favor.

“Can’t help yourself…” Nico trailed off, his hand gesturing for Percy to continue.

“Please don’t think I’m weird but all this time I’ve been thinking about you,” was the reply.

Percy poured it all out on Nico about how he was furious to find Cabin 13 empty the morning he went to grade cabins on their cleaning and stuff. Then he saw Will with another girl and was under the impression that Nico left because they broke up badly. Nico didn’t even know how to react when Percy confessed to having given the new couple a hard time but it was only a week until he was informed by Jason about their ‘mutual agreement’. Percy confided in Nico about how he couldn’t stop thinking that Nico ran away because he was hurt. With a nod of reconfirmation, the green-eyed said he hated seeing Nico being sad and isolated again. Basically, he hadn’t put his mind into anything but following Nico’s steps and his attempt to reunite.

“It’s just… I’m so used to seeing Will and you together that I thought he betrayed you.” 

“It’s fine. I hope you didn’t do anything that will make you regret your decision.”

“Nah, I’m a loser.” Percy shook his head with a small smile. “Do you think I’m weird? Do I even have the right to care about you at all?”

“You know, I’m actually glad to know that you care about me, Percy.” Nico looked at him with a fond smile spreading on his chapped lips. Percy told himself to remind Nico about drinking water regularly later. “It’s good to have you as a friend.” Something in Percy’s guts twisted but the joy overcame it within the blink of an eye.

“So give me another chance?” Percy asked hopefully, arms already spreading although the thought that Nico may object to physical contact was hanging loosely right above his head, promising an embarrassing situation.

“Of course.” Nico was actually grinning and Percy was startled to acknowledge the fact that he loved that look on the younger demigod’s face.

They shared a quick hug but Percy already felt butterflies in his stomach doing the Hawaiian dance. 

“I’ve been missing you,” uttered Percy, with a smile that he didn’t have to force on his face for such a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> P/s :  
> “You draw???”
> 
> “Apparently.”
> 
> “This is art! So spectacular, I have to show Rachel!”
> 
> “Thanks.”
> 
> “I have to upgrade myself, too. Seeing you being so cool, I have to take up skateboarding again.”


End file.
